Finned tube heating element



June 28, 1966 w, BECHER ET AL 3,258,066

FINNED TUBE HEATING ELEMENT Filed March 10, 1964 IN VEN'TORS fkeps/a/v/f W. Air/x9? United States Patent 3,258,066 FINNED TUBE HEATING ELEMENT Frederick W. Becher, Wethersfield, and Leon N. King, Thompsonville, Comte, assignors to Radiant Baseboard Panels, Inc., Newington, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Mar. 10, 1964, Ser. No. 350,859

6 Claims. (Cl. 165-55) This invention relates to an improved finned tube heating element of a type to be used in baseboard heating installations.

Baseboard heating units of this type generally comprise a back panel that is fastened to a wall of the room to be heated, a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart hanger brackets mounted on the back panel and having support portions projecting into the room, a damper, an elongated finned tube heating element, and a front panel.

As its name would imply, the finned tube heating element comprises an elongated metal tube having a plurality of rectangular metal fins radiating therefrom in longitudinally spaced apart relationship. The side edges of the rectangular fins are aligned, and since these fins are made of thin gauge metal, they are sometimes difficult to handle and to instal without injury to the handler. Further, the thin fins scrape across the hanger brackets and cause undesirable noise with expansion and contraction of the heating element caused by temperature change thereof.

It is the general object of the present invention to provide runners that will extend across the fins at the corners thereof to permit easier handling of the finned tube element without injury and to attenuate the noise caused thereby after installation.

It is a more specific object of the invention to provide such runners in such form and made of such material that they can easily be snapped into place on the finned tube heating element, and in keeping with this object, it is desirable to especially adapt the fins to accommodate the snap on assembly of the runners.

The drawing shows preferred embodiments of the invention and such embodiments will be described, but it will be understood that various changes may be made from the constructions disclosed, and that the drawing and description are not to be construed as defining or limiting the scope of the invention, the claims forming a part of this specification being relied upon for that purpose.

Of the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken through a baseboard heating installation utilizing a finned tube heating element provided in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of a portion of the heating installation with parts thereof being shown in section to provide a better disclosure of details of the construction;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional taken through one runner at one corner of a fin; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing an alternative form of runner construction.

As shown in FIG. 1, a baseboard heating installation provided in accordance with the present invention includes an elongated rear panel which is secured to a room wall W, generally an outside wall of the room. The panel 10 is secured to the wall adjacent the floor F of the room, and it provides the principal support for the other elements of the installation, and the upper end of the elongated panel is bent as indicated at 12 to direct heated convection air currents inwardly toward the interior of the room.

A plurality of hanger brackets of suitable form, such as the hanger bracket 14, are secured in longitudinally spaced apart relationship along the back panel 10. The illustrated bracket 14 is generally Lshaped and has its longer leg mounted to the panel 10 or to the wall W and has a shorter leg 16 which projects forwardly therefrom. The finned tube heating element 18 provided in accordance with the present invention extends across the hanger brackets 14, 14 and rests upon the forwardly projecting portions 16 thereof.

Each hanger bracket 14 also includes an integrally formed plate 20 which projects forwardly from the upper end portion of the bracket and which is provided with a notch 22 in its front edge portion to receive and support a horizontally disposed heating return tube 24. Plate '20 is also provided with a snap-in notch 26 to pivotally support an air damper 28 below the outwardly bent portion 12 of the back panel 10. Further, the plate 20 has a book 30 formed in its upper edge to receive the upper longitudinal edge of a front panel 32, which edge has been inturned as indicated at 34. The bottom of the front panel 32 snaps under the forwardly projecting portion of the hanger bracket 16 after its upper edge portion has been engaged with the book 30 of the plate 20. It will be observed that the damper 28 is disposed to control or modify the flow of convection currents rising from the heating element 18 and passing through the space between the top edge of the front panel 32 and the inwardly bent portion 12 of the back panel 10.

In keeping with the present invention, the finned tube heating element 18 comprises an elongated metal tube 36 having a plurality of substantially rectangular metal fins 38, 38 radiating therefrom in longitudinally spaced apart relationship. The side edges of the fins are aligned, so that the composite heating element structure is generally rectangular. An elongated, preferably plastic, runner 40 extends along the finned tube heating element 18 at each corner thereof. Each runner 4-0 is assembled to the associated or aligned corners of the fins 38, 38 by being fitted into a notch in the corner of each fin, which notch will now be described with reference to FIG. 3.

The notch provided in each corner of each fin 38 is generally T-shaped and it substantially bisects the corner angle. That is, the sides 42, 42 of the notch are sloping and extend inwardly to the notch head 44, the sloping sides being arranged so that the widest portion of the notch is at the corner and the narrowest portion thereof is at the entry to the notch head. This construction and arrangement facilitates assembly of an associated runner 40 by a snap-in action.

In keeping with the concept of snap in assembly, each runner 40 in cross section has an outer head 46 that covers a part of the adjacent side edges of the fin, and the runner has a bifurcated portion extending into the notch and terminating in a head that is engaged in the notch head 44. More specifically, the furcations 48, 48 of the runner 41) extend into the corner notch and terminate in outwardly turned ends 50, 50 which combine to provide the inner head of the runner.

' The runner 40 is preferably provided in a resilient plastic material so that the bifurcated portion. and inner head portion thereof can be deformed as the runner is thrust into the slot from the outer end thereof until the inner head ends enter the notch head 44 and spring outwardly in the engaged position shown in FIG. 3. This snap in assembly of the runners has several advantages. For example, it is unnecessary to hold a close tolerance on the location of the notch with respect to the fin edges to assure proper engagement of the runner, it is unnecessary to hold a close tolerance on the manufacture of the resilient plastic runner, and it is unnecessary to provide expensive machinery to assure threading of the runner into the fin notches in an end-wise assembly operation.

The presently preferred form of runner 40 is shown in FIG. 3 and, obviously, this form can be provided as an extrusion. However, the form 4011 shown in FIG. 4 can also be used and provided in a resilient plastic material or it can be provided in metal. The plastic material is preferred for either form of runner, because in addition to providing protection for the handler of the finned tube elements, it attenuates the noise accompanying expansion and contraction of the runners.

The invention claimed is:

1. A baseboard type heating unit comprising an elongated back panel mountable on a wall, a plurality of hanger brackets secured to said back panel in longitudinally spaced apart relationship and having support portions projecting forwardly therefrom, a heating element including an elongated metal tube having a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart rectangular metal fins radiating therefrom, the said element being provided to extend between the hanger brackets for support and each of the fins of the element being provided with a single generally T-shaped notch in each of its corners which substantially bisects the corner angle and extends inwardly with the head of the notch at the inner end thereof, and an elongated runner extending across the fins at each corner thereof by attachment in the corner notches of the fins, each such runner in cross section having an outer head which covers a portion of each side edge of each fin at the corner and having a portion extending into the notch with an inner head formed thereon to engage in the head of the notch.

2. A heating unit as set forth in claim 1 wherein each T-shaped notch has sloping side edges so that the notch is wider at the outer end than at the entry to the head thereof, and wherein each runner is sufficiently flexible to permit assembly thereof by thrusting the inner head thereof into the associated fin notches from the wider outer end thereof.

3. A heating unit as set fort-h in claim 1 wherein each T-shaped notch has sloping side edges so that the notch is wider at the outer end than at the entry to the head thereof, and wherein each runner is made of flexible material and the portion thereof extending into the associated fin notches and forming the inner head is bifurcated, whereby the runners can be assembled on the fins by thrusting them into their associated notches from the wider outer end thereof.

4. A finned tube heating element adapted to be supported by resting on longitudinally spaced apart support members and comprising an elongated metal tube having a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart rectangular metal fins radiating therefrom in aligned relationship to each other, each of the said fins being provided with a single generally T-shaped notch in each of its corners which substantially bisects the corner angle and extends inwardly with the head of the notch at the inner end thereof, and an elongated runner extending across the fins at each corner thereof by attachment in the corner notches of the fins, each such runner in cross section having an outer head which covers a portion of each side edge of each fin at the corner and having a portion extending into the notch with an inner head formed thereon to engage in the head of the notch.

5. A heating unitas set forth in claim 4 wherein each T-shaped notch has sloping side edges so that the notch is wider at the outer end than at the entry to the head thereof, and wherein each runner is suificiently flexible to permit assembly thereof by thrusting the inner head thereof into the associated fin notches from the wider outer end thereof.

6. A heating unit as set forth in claim 4 wherein each T-shaped notch has sloping side edges so that the notch is wider at the outer end than at the entry to the head thereof, and wherein each runner is made of flexible material and the portion thereof extending into the associated fin notches and forming the inner head is bifurcated, whereby the runners can be assembled on the fins by thrusting them into their associated notches from the wider outer end thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,767,605 6/1930 Modine l-148 1,891,538 12/1932 Nicks l82 2,963,276 12/1960 Nelson l6555 ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner. CHARLES SUKALO, Examiner. 

1. A BASEBOARD TYPE HEATING UNIT COMPRISING AN ELONGATED BACK PANEL MOUNTABLE ON A WALL, A PLURALITY OF HANGER BRACKETS SECURED TO SAID BACK PANEL IN LONGITUDINALLY SPACED APART RELATIONSHIP AND HAVING SUPPORT PORTIONS PROJECTING FORWARDLY THEREFROM, A HEATING ELEMENT INCLUDING AN ELONGATED METAL TUBE HAVING A PLURALITY OF LONGITUDINALLY SPACED RECTANGULAR METAL FINS RADIATING THEREFROM, THE SAID ELEMENT BEING PROVIDED TO EXTEND BETWEEN THE HANGER BRACKETS FOR SUPPORT AND EACH OF THE FINS OF THE ELEMENT BEING PROVIDED WITH A SINGLE GENERALLY T-SHAPED NOTCH IN EACH OF ITS CORNERS WHICH SUBSTANTIALLY BISECTS THE CORNER ANGLE AND EXTENDS INWARDLY WITH THE HEAD OF THE NOTCH AT THE INNER END THEREOF, AND AN ELONGATED RUNNER EXTENDING ACROSS THE FINS AT EACH CORNER THEREOF BY ATTACHMENT IN THE CORNER NOTCHES OF THE FINS EACH SUCH RUNNER IN CROSS SECTION HAVING AN OUTER HEAD WHICH COVERS A PORTION OF EACH SIDE EDGE OF EACH FIN AT THE CORNER AND HAVING A PORTION EXTENDING INTO THE NOTCH WITH AN INNER HEAD FORMED THEREON TO ENGAGE IN THE HEAD OF THE NOTCH. 